“It’s easy to fixate on how the other team has better resources than you do. But it’s more important to concentrate on maximizing your own resources instead of worrying about things you can’t control.”
– Mike Leach, 2-Time National Coach of the Year
In sports, there are dozens of factors you have no control over. You have no control over random injuries to your players, the weather, the plays your opponent will choose to run, etc. The list of things you don’t control could go on and on.
The most successful coaches refuse to waste their time and effort worrying about such things because it only gets in the way of the things they DO control. And it’s the things you do control that determine how successful you will be.
Another uncontrollable factor is focusing on how you compare to others. As Mike Leach points out in the quote above, your opponent’s talent, facilities, and advantages are one of the easiest things to focus on—but it’s something you have absolutely zero control over. Instead, your focus should only be on maximizing what YOU have and what YOU can do to win.
This is true in any area of life. Comparing yourself to others is at best a waste of time and energy, and at worst a ticket to resentment, jealousy, and self-pity. Don’t fall into the comparison trap.
Instead of comparing yourself to others, your focus should be on doing everything you possibly can to improve yourself. Keep your focus on whether you’re becoming the best version of YOU, not how you measure up to anyone else.
By relentlessly focusing on becoming the very best YOU that you can be, you will find that the results will take care of themselves.
Instead of focusing on the problems outside of your control, you should be focused on the solutions you do control.
Successful people have a solution-focused, “find-a-way” mentality. Unsuccessful people have a problem-focused, “what’s-the-use?” mentality.
The next time you notice that you’re comparing yourself to others, saying things like, “I wish I had their talent, their resources, their advantages,” immediately STOP and turn the attention to yourself. Start asking yourself questions like, “What can I do to maximize my talent? What can I do to overcome my competition’s advantages?”
When you start asking yourself solution-based questions, you’ll automatically start finding solutions.
And that’s how you empower yourself in any situation: by focusing on the things you DO control.
THINK LIKE A CHAMPION:
“I am focused on becoming the very best that I am capable of becoming. I am focused on solutions, not problems. I am focused on why something CAN be done, not why something can’t be.”
